TWO of Cornwall’s RNLI lifeboat stations have been chosen as host destinations for the RNLI’s 200th anniversary ‘Connecting our Communities’ scroll, which will be signed at two special event ceremonies later this year.

The scroll will be arriving in Fowey on Saturday, April 6, and the signing ceremony will take place at 1pm at Fowey lifeboat station. The ceremony forms the highlight of a ‘Water Safety Day’ which is being run at the lifeboat station from 10am to 3pm.

At 3pm, Fowey’s Trent class all-weather lifeboat, will launch from her pontoon to take the scroll to Mevagissey.

On arrival in Mevagissey at 3.30pm, the scroll will be handed over to representatives from the Mevagissey RNLI shop for a signing ceremony on the quay at 4pm.

Chairman of Fowey lifeboat management group, Adam Luck, said: “The scroll is part of the RNLI’s commemorative events this year to mark their 200th anniversary. In an Olympic Torch-style relay called Connecting our Communities, starting on Monday, March 4, at a commemorative service in Westminster Abbey, and finishing in the Isle of Man in October, a specially made scroll will travel around the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Hundreds of communities expressed their interest in hosting the scroll, and we are delighted that Fowey lifeboat station and the Mevagissey RNLI shop have been chosen as host locations.”

On the scroll is the phrase: ‘Signed in 2024 by representatives of the RNLI’s lifesaving communities, on behalf of all who strive to save every one’, which has been translated into Cornish, as well as Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Ulster Scots and Manx, to represent all RNLI communities.

Adam continued: “This year Fowey RNLI is commemorating 165 years of lifesaving at Fowey lifeboat station. Originally based in Polkerris, the station opened in 1859 before moving to Fowey in the 1920s. The scroll signing and water safety day in Fowey is the first of our commemorative events to mark our 165th anniversary as well as the 200th anniversary of the RNLI. We hope as many people as possible can come along to either the Fowey or Mevagissey events, to help us witness and celebrate this historic occasion.”

Fowey’s all-weather Trent class lifeboat will be open for tours from 10am till 2.30pm, and the D class crew will be demonstrating man overboard recovery in Fowey harbour. The coastguard and water safety teams will be giving demonstrations and water safety advice throughout the day, including talks on cold water shock and how to ‘float to live’. The lifeboat shop will be open all day and there will be music and refreshments, with Stormy Stan making a special appearance. In the afternoon The Press Gang will be performing shanty songs live at the station and will sing to accompany the scroll onto the lifeboat.

Throughout Fowey’s water safety day there will be lifejacket maintenance sessions on how to service and check lifejackets, which all sailors should do at least once a year. TMS from Par will be there selling spare parts for lifejackets, and for those who want to have safety equipment professionally serviced, TMS will provide a facility for booking in lifejackets and returning them for collection from Fowey Chandlery once serviced.

Fowey’s volunteer lifeboat crew will launch the all-weather lifeboat at 3pm in Fowey with the scroll onboard. On arrival in Mevagissey at 3.30pm, the scroll will be handed over to representatives from the Mevagissey RNLI shop for a special signing ceremony on Mevagissey quay. This will be followed by tours of the Fowey lifeboat and celebrations on the quay and jetty with shanty singers, a treasure hunt and events in the harbour. The Mevagissey RNLI shop will also be open to visitors. The lifeboat will depart from Mevagissey at 5.30pm.

To follow the progress of the scroll on its journey around the UK use the interactive map at rnli.org/200relay

Activities for Fowey’s scroll signing and water safety day include:

10am - Inshore lifeboat launch

10.30am - Lifejacket maintenance demo

11am - Cold water shock talk

11.15am - Float to live demo

11.15am - Inshore lifeboat man overboard demo

12pm - Lifejacket maintenance demo

12.30pm - Cold water shock talk

1pm – 2pm - Connecting our Communities Scroll Signing Ceremony

2pm - 3pm - The Press Gang shanty group singing live 

2.15pm - Lifejacket maintenance

2.15pm - Float to live demo

2.30pm - Cold water shock talk

2.45pm - Inshore lifeboat man overboard demo

3pm - Scroll departs from Fowey to Mevagissey, carried onboard the Fowey all-weather lifeboat, which will launch from her pontoon at 3pm.

Activities for the Mevagissey scroll signing event on the quay and jetty include:

3.15pm - Shanty singing

3.30pm - Welcome Fowey lifeboat with the connecting communities scroll

4pm - Scroll Signing Ceremony on the Quay

4pm - 5.15pm - Tours of Fowey lifeboats

5.30pm - Fowey lifeboat departs